Brand content isn't exempt from this headline-skimming behavior. For instance, in the last few weeks I’ve had full conversations about these four brand-related stories from ONLY reading the headlines:

Red Lobster’s sales spiked 33% after Beyonce referenced it in her new song

Burger King is now selling grilled hot dogs

The new Samsung Galaxy line is waterproof

Tesla is creating a more affordable $35K Model 3 electric car

This culture of headline skimming has been detrimental to content creators who only make money when people click through to read or watch their content. Their natural response was to test and learn which types of headlines drove the most clicks. The result is the other side of the modern internet. Clickbait. Where CTRs are higher with headlines that follow rules like:

Telegraph the emotion: “You’ll cry when you see what this mother did for her daughter”
Listicles/Time Commitment: “5 Reasons Why…” or “In 30 seconds learn how to…”
Hyperbolic promises: “Easily win $10,000 in only 1 minute!”“Click here to become a winner now!”

This culture of headline skimming has been detrimental to content creators who only make money when people click to read or watch their content.

How brands can tell better stories in this new environment

Luckily, brands don’t need clicks to survive but they do need people to know their stories. So, to understand how brands can get beyond clickbait and adapt to a world where we only read headlines, Sharethrough partnered with Nielsen Neuro Labs to conduct a Neuroscience study around how people read native ads. The study confirmed that when sponsored branded headlines match the form and function of a site, readers actually read and remember the brand message.

This means that when brands write well-crafted headlines for their videos, articles and galleries and scale them across targeted social and publisher feeds, they fit in with the current climate of news and culture and people actually remember their story.

Luckily, brands don’t need clicks to survive but they do need people to know their stories.

Savvy brands are learning how to adapt to this headline skimming culture by developing marketing strategies designed to dominate headlines in three steps:

Creating or aggregating content that reveals key truths about their brand

Writing and testing headlines that prioritize grabbing attention over clickbait

Scaling these stories and headlines through in-feed ads on social and publisher sites

Most brands realize that storytelling through content is a necessity to earn attention in a world where people are harder to interrupt. Understanding the power of well-written headlines is the next step to adapting to the behaviors of the modern internet user. It is no coincidence that the headline of this article reveals that exact truth. As such, I’m looking forward to my first conversation of:

“I saw that article you wrote about how brands can write better headlines.”

“Thanks! What was your favorite part?”

“Well, I only read the headline,”

Frank Maguire

Head of Market Development, Brands & Agencies at Sharethrough. Leading development of the native advertising market through research and education